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The UnReformed Truth

A Response to the Credenda Agenda

This page is a partial Orthodox response to
an issue of the Calvinist journal Credenda Agenda, Volume 6, Number 5.
A response has been long in coming because the representation of Orthodoxy in this Protestant publication was so
distorted that it was deemed unworthy of a response. However, as the negative influence of
this issue has been noted by a number of people, it was finally decided to formulate a
reply. Interestingly, others have also publicly condemned this journal for its imprudent
attack. Michael Morbey writes:

This said, I therefore find it ironic that the issue of C/A
which you recommend could choose to portray Eastern Orthodoxy in such a jaundiced light
that one would be hard put to find any redeemable features at all. I could almost be
tempted to concede the point of those Orthodox Christians who would doubt that the
Reformation and C/A were really in the Christian camp. Thankfully, I know the Reformation
better than to allow this undiscerning and uncharitable line of thinking to intrude. If
only the C/A writers could have come to know Orthodoxy better, by at least temporarily
taking a stand within the system, as your 'presuppositionalism' properly requires....

I do not deny that there is much good reading in this issue of C/A, much that
is refreshing, and much that should be thought-provoking and even salutary for Orthodox
Christians. The overall message, however, consistently, one-sidedly, and with little real
understanding, places Orthodoxy in the worst possible light, just as if Orthodox
Christians were to dwell only (as they tend to do) on the darkest aspects of the
Reformation as they see it....

While I would not go so far as to call it hate literature, I must voice concern
that this particular issue of C/A is sitting there on a Christian web site, bearing a
false witness against Orthodox Christianity even as it provides several helpful insights.
It is not representative of the best of Reformation scholarship that could have been
brought to bear on this topic. A 'caveat emptor' should come with the recommendation to
point its way.

The bold face headings for each section are reproduced from the Credenda Agenda issue in question so that the reader
can clearly tell which article each author is responded to. We made one minor
change to the ordering of the issue's sections. We have placed "Thema: A Column on
Our Theme" first, as it is the lead article that ties in all the rest of the
responses. It should be the first article one reads.

The Puritan Eye: Thoughts from the Past & Historia: On History

Non Est: On Unbelief

We quote again from the post made by Mr. Michael Morbey on the
soc.religion.christian newsgroup on April 8, 1996:

Nor has the author of this Credenda Agenda article fared any
better in his portrayal of the 'apophatic' theology of the Eastern Church, which I suspect
he may be miscontruing as mere 'negative' theology in the Western sense. Further reading
in the works of Vladimir Lossky would have removed this misapprehension. Nor did he fare
any better in his approach to the Orthodox mystical doctrine of Synergy which he takes
(quoting St. Maximus outside of his full presuppostional context) as making salvation
ultimately dependent on man's will. Orthodox synergy, however, is nothing more, nothing
less than the Biblical reality of Philippians 2:12-13, consistent with the Greek middle
voice of mystical union used in the word for (Heysychast) reflection in II Corinthians
3:17-18. I would also point out that the Orthodox doctrine of Salvation as
Deification, which Douglas Jones finds problematic and unbiblical, is certainly no more
baleful and un-Christian than a similar viewpoint on this matter expressed by John Calvin
and summarized by David J.C. Cooper: 'The task of the image is to deify (*deificare*) the
children of God and to transform the world. Christ is the prototype. He 'rose for the
purpose of making us...partakers of the same glory with Himself.' The chief instrument is
the Gospel, the end of which is 'to render us eventually conformable to God, and, if we
may so speak, to deify us.' The change refers not to 'essence by quality' in order to
preserve the distinction between creator and creature. We are made to 'conform to God, not
by an inflowing of substance, but by the grace and power of the Spirit...who surely works
in us without rendering us consubstanial with God.' Although we have 'participation in
God,' it is 'Christ alone' who 'has an *imago* relation in substance to God, men only by
irradiation'...Not only humanity is to be transfigured. 'The elements of the world...are
to be consumed, only that they may be renovated, their substance still remaining the
same'" (Taken from pages 233-234 of Rev. David J.C. Copper, "The Theology of
Image in Eastern Orthodoxy and John Calvin," Scottish Journal of Theology,
35(3): 219-242 (June 1982).

See Also

The Ascetic Ideal and the New Testament: Reflections on the
Theology of the New Testament, by Father George Florovsky. This is one of the most
important articles a Protestant inquirer to Orthodoxy could read. It is a lengthy survey
of almost the entire New Testament. The author demonstrates that in each book the Orthodox
doctrines of synergy and theosis are taught. He interacts constantly with the
theology of Luther and Calvin, as well as the book Agape and Eros, by Anders
Nygren.

An
Excerpt from The Paschal Fire in Jerusalem, by Bishop Auxentios of Photiki. In these fourteen pages are found a very lucid
and succinct treatment of some of the common misconceptions about Orthodoxy and
Neo-Platonism, Icons, Palamite thought (including interaction with Fr. John Meyendorff's
views), Western concepts of contemplation and meditation, etc. Start reading with the last
paragraph of p. 125. The tables above this discussing the Holy Fire can be skipped.

The Hellenic-Christian Philosophical Tradition, by Dr.
Constantine Cavarnos (Belmont, MA: Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies,
1989). This is a series of lectures comparing ancient Greek philosophy with the Christian
philosophy of the Church Fathers. Dr. Cavarnos proves beyond any doubt that the Holy
Fathers selectively employed the terms and ideas in numerous Greek philosopherslike a bumblebee collects nectar, to use an image of
St. Basil the Great, Christianizing them for use
by the Church. This is a very careful study using almost entirely primary source material.
The accusations of the Credenda Agenda are quickly discovered, in the light of
this very important work, to be mere chaffentirely
without basis in fact. There is no excuse for men of their education to have so
misrepresented the relation of the Church to Greek philosophy.

The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, by St. Bede. This
eighth-century work is available in numerous editions, the most popular being the Penguin
Classics edition. An excellent companion volume, also published by Penguin, is The Age
of Bede. These books are filled with references to incorrupt relics, the veneration
of the Saints, etc. Have Protestants ever read this?